


Of Adoration and Maldivian Stars

by colorworld



Series: My Whole Universe Is With me (May God Never Let It Fade) [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Irondad, Maldives, Starkudaku fam, SuperFam, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark's Daughter, Tony is happy, Vacation, avengers take vacation, female morgan stark, stark daughter, superfam vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 13:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17345813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorworld/pseuds/colorworld
Summary: It was their vacation during this sunny February, the least rainy month in the Maldives during the whole year, so Tony and Pepper chose the stunning island nation for their trip, considering it was the absolute best the one time the couple went, but they didn’t go with Peter, Shuri, May, Happy, Rhodey, Carol, and their beautiful baby girl.Tony, Pepper, and the whole family go on a vacation in the Maldives and have a wonderful time.





	Of Adoration and Maldivian Stars

**Author's Note:**

> SOOOOOOOOOO I have made a commitment to write a fic a day this whole week and I am uploading this late at night, but it technically passes considering it is 11 pm here in U.S eastern time! I hope you enjoy and I highly highly appreciate kudos, but I octuple appreciate REVIEWS!

“OH MY GOSH, IT’S SO PRETTY!” Little four-year-old Clara Rose Morgan Stark exclaims, her hazel eyes rounded wide, adorable in her mint-aquamarine custom outfit and her auburn hair in two braids. 

 

It was their vacation during this sunny February, the least rainy month in the Maldives during the whole year, so Tony and Pepper chose the stunning island nation for their trip, considering it was the absolute best the one time the couple went, but they didn’t go with Peter, Shuri, May, Happy, Rhodey, Carol, and their beautiful baby girl.

 

“Oh my god…” Peter was awestruck. Before meeting Mr. Stark years ago, never had he been to exotic and extraordinary places outside of the overpopulated city he called home. Since then, he’d visited so many places he might not remember which summer he visited Australia in or which winter was in a French chalet. 

 

“Look how blue the water is!” Shuri exclaims. Yes, she was royalty, but she hadn’t been everywhere in the world considering the isolation status her country held for centuries, as well as them having secrets to keep. So she’d never been to somewhere so tropical with white sand and perfect water, palm trees, and fish underneath the bungalows where you sleep at night. 

 

“Okay, how ‘bout you two unpack and we unpack ourselves and squirt here, sound good?” Tony offers despite knowing if they were to go “unpack” they would immediately get their swim clothes on and go play in the water or whatever they’d want to do. 

 

“Okay!” The best friend-slash-siblings responded in unison. 

 

“I’ll be in my room unpacking myself, but I don’t know what they’ll be doing,” May says, walking with her boyfriend to their own room on the other side of the villa. 

 

“This...is so cool,” Carol mutters, Rhodey nodding beside her. Her eyes practically float around the massiveness of the place. No, not like Kree palaces, and such, but as some Earthean resort. It wasn’t like she was as Earth-native as the rest of them were, and the Maldives weren’t a travel must-see back in the nineties. The closest thing she’d seen to this place was Ikia II, but she barely spent time there, anyways. 

 

“Are our rooms upstairs?” Peter asks, looking up the staircase. He didn’t really know since the bungalow looked massive. 

 

“Yes, there’s four bedrooms, a bonus kids room, and five coordinating bathrooms, three down here, two up there, but you two are sharing your room, kids,” Pepper answers, putting her bag down on one of the decorative chairs. “Clara, sweetie, that duffel is kinda heavy, you can’t really-um-really pull it yourself!” She tries through laughs. 

 

“Yes I can!” Clara contradicts. “It’s daddy’s duffel, I’m trying to get it to your room!”

 

“Honey, I can get it-” 

 

“I got it, Daddy!” Clara keeps dragging the black Tumi duffel on the floor since she was unable to pick it up, toddler-sized grunts coming out the whole trek there. Carol just giggles at the little girl making her think of what she was like at her age. 

 

“Pep, shouldn’t we-” Tony starts, watching with concern that his baby girl would hurt herself. 

 

“Tony, if our daughter wants to do something, she seems to really do it.”

 

“Okay, that’s true, I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

 

“It’s a duffel-unless it’s another Iron suit you made, god forbid!” Pepper eyes him with warning.

 

“No, honey, I did not Iron-Man-ize my duffel.”

 

“Or did you,” Rhodey teasingly murmurs, earning a  _ look _ from Tony. 

 

The two watched for a minute while Rhodey and Carol did their own thing, seeing their young daughter literally pull an ottoman over to put the duffel on just to shove it onto the red-rose-petal covered duvet. 

 

“I did it!” Clara’s eyes look at them with pride for herself. 

 

“Told you,” Pepper smirks. 

 

“THERE’S A  _ WATERSLIDE _ ?!” 

 

The two parents look up, startled at Shuri’s shriek of excitement, four teenage feet pounding down the stairs as they were now in their swimsuits. So much for unpacking. 

 

“Weren’t you two unpacking?”

 

“We started to, but then we saw a flipping waterslide!” Peter calls down. “Oh my god, Shuri!”

 

They heard a yell of excitement and a crash in the Maldivian water. 

 

Clara rushed to the expansive deck, seeing Shuri’s dark body contrast the water. 

 

“THAT WAS GREAT!” The Wakandan exclaims. 

 

“Mommy, I wanna go on the waterslide!” Clara jumps up and down.“Pleasepleaseplease _ please _ ?!”

 

“Mmmmm, it’s probably safe, right, Tony?” Her crystal blue eyes are not without concern. 

 

“I can catch her at the bottom, just to be safe? Does that sound good, sweetheart?”

 

“Yeah!” The mini-redhead answers. 

 

Pepper shrugs. “I guess none of us are unpacking immediately, then?” She concludes. 

 

“Yeah, no, and I can’t believe I thought we would for a minute.”

 

The two parents changed in their room into their swimsuits, coming out to Clara jumping up and down in her own suit Pepper helped her with minutes before. 

 

Once outside, Peter had gone down the slide for probably the seventh time in just minutes, same with Shuri. Clara looked at the slide and it suddenly looked daunting to the young Stark. “Maybe later, daddy? It’s kinda tall.”

 

“Anything you want, honey. So you just wanna get in the water-wait, floaties-”

 

“I got ‘em,” Pepper says, holding little Clara’s arm floaties since she wasn’t completely proficient in swimming just yet, and the water was kinda deep, anyways. “Put these on, sweetie.”

 

Clara frowns, holding the bright pink floaties. “Do I have to?”

 

“Yes, baby girl, you need to be safe,” Tony responds for her. 

 

Clara goes ahead and slides them on her creamy porcelain arms, just as Pepper said, “Wait, sunscreen!” 

 

“Ugh!” 

 

“It’s the last thing, honey, I promise!” Tony assures. “Wait, are you gonna swim underwater?”

 

“I dunno,” Clara responds cluelessly. 

 

“Pepper, you may want to get her swim goggles!” Tony calls to her. Meanwhile, Clara looked increasingly impatient as she watched May jump in the water in a navy one-piece halter suit, hearing her little screech as Shuri splashed tons of water at her face. 

 

“Okay, we have SPF fifty sunscreen for her face, she’s already in her rash guard, she has goggles-honey, do you want to put your hair up?”

 

“I’m good!” Clara smiles, bouncing up and down, her jubilance never easing, but still desperate to go swim with her aunt and big brother and sister. 

 

“What are you, a jumping Mexican bean?” Tony eyes his daughter. 

 

“Yes! I! Am!” She enunciates between each jump. 

 

“Well, don’t hurt your feet so then you can’t swim,” Pepper warns lightly. 

 

The toddler instantly stopped jumping at the scary thought of that. 

 

The Stark and Potts-Stark take their daughter out onto the deck, the tropical theme of the Maldives shining over them. The sky was a perfect intense blue, the water was clear and a stunning aqua blue-green, the deck was massive and had its own pool and its own loungers. The water slide was in sight, a simple slide straight down from the top floor to the Maldivian waters. 

 

“Okay, so you can still swim, right?” Tony checks with no thought, forgetting that in some ways, his baby girl was not that delicate of a flower. 

 

“Of course I can!” Clara answers like it should be obvious. She gets closer to the edge and is eager to just jump in, but still waits for the assistance her parents were so insistent on giving. 

 

Pepper gets in the water, first, the coolness quickly isn’t a problem. Tony lowers his daughter’s body down into Pepper’s loving arms. 

 

“Can I swim on my own, mommy?” 

 

“Yes, sweetie, but be  _ very _ careful, you hear me?”

 

“Okay!” Clara says as if it’s no problem. With complete ease, Clara swam over to Peter who immediately lifted her into the air like a ballerina, earning a playful shriek then endless giggling from the little girl. “Uncle Rhodey, Aunt Carol, look at me!”

 

“We see you, Clara!” Carol smiles. The two of them were on the deck loungers, not quite ready to get in the water yet, even though Carol had her colorblock swimsuit on with a sheer cover-up dress, and Rhodey in his swim trunks. 

 

“You two cowards to the water, or something?” Tony smirks, now in the water himself with his wife. 

 

“Nope, we’re just enjoying the view, Tones, we’re not dolphins,” Rhodey casually responds. 

 

Carol rolls her eyes. “We’ll probably be in in a bit. Can’t miss out on my favorite niece having fun!”

 

“I’m your _ ONLY _ niece, Aunt Carol!” Clara yells. 

 

“Still, you’re my favorite!” Carol yells back. 

 

“Aww, I’m not?!” Peter jokingly asks. 

 

“Over that little girl? Not a chance!” Carol shakes her head, admitting pure love for the toddler. 

 

“Aw man!”

 

Clara giggled, but then gasped with huge eyes. “Is that a manta ray?!” 

 

Shuri, May, and Peter look beneath them and see a manta ray passing by, but feet below their feet. 

 

“A what?” Carol blinks. 

 

“A manta ray, it’s just a sea creature,” Rhodey replies. 

 

“I wish I could touch it!” Clara stares in awe. The manta was so graceful and huge, almost like it was floating and flying at the same time. 

 

“You can’t touch it, baby girl, it can kill you with its tail, although its really rare!” Tony warns. 

 

“Too late, I’m already dead inside.”

 

Pepper isn’t moving, not even her deadly eyes “... _ Peter, Shuri, what  _ are you teaching our daughter?!” 

 

Shuri tries not to snicker. 

 

“N-nothing, Mrs. Stark, I swear I haven’t said that in front of her!” Peter exclaims. 

 

Meanwhile, Tony is laughing so much Pepper wanted to slap him. 

 

“Big mood, though,” Shuri whispers under her breath. 

 

“SHURI!” Peter practically shrieks. 

 

They all continue playing in the water, the sun barely moving scintillas through the sky. For most of the time, the two couples that weren’t Tony and Pepper changed back and forth between being in the water and the deck, considering those two didn’t have a kid to take care of, but wow, was it fun to watch the little girl play and her parents swing her around. 

 

The sun was setting. By this time, Clara was sitting at the sunken round table munching on her ice cream sandwich beside her dad and Shuri. Happy and Rhodes were inside playing pool in the game room, Pepper and May were talking happily on loungers, and Carol and Peter were throwing a tennis ball back and forth in the water over long distance. 

 

“Having fun, you two?” Tony asks, turning his head to look at one figural-meme-obsessed daughter and his precious ice-cream-sandwich-eating daughter, one on both side leaning against him.

 

“Mm-hm!” Clara quickly nods. 

 

Tony giggles. “Sweetie, you have so much ice cream on your little face.”  He takes a napkin and wipes his daughter’s soft, rounded face. 

 

“Daddy!” The four-year-old redhead squirms. 

 

“Well, I have to get it off, somehow, silly!” Tony wipes away the last of the residue around her plush pink lips. 

 

“You’re so adorable, Clara,” Shuri giggles at her little sister. Yes, not biologically, but she really was her little sister just as she was to Peter. Same with that she was not Tony’s biological daughter, but they were tight-knit dad-daughter geniuses, so close enough. 

 

Clara’s face made no variation of expression as she said it: “Yes. Yes I am.”

 

“WATCH OU-”

 

Shuri immediately lunged over Tony and Clara’s bodies to catch the tennis ball, so terrified of it hurting Clara’s petite head. 

 

Carol rushed out of the water and threw the tennis ball back out to Peter, many many feet away from the sunken table in the water. “I’m sorry, you three, I sometimes accidentally throw too hard,” She shakes her head. 

 

“It’s okay, Aunt Carol! Can I come play with you and Peter?”

 

“Of course you can, sweet pea! Can she, Tony?” Carol checks with him.    
  


“As long as she gets her floaties on her arms!” Tony nods while Shuri takes a picture of the striking Maldives sunset, the solar system’s merciful star a bright, burning yellow-orange mixture.

 

When the Wakandan teen finishes editing the photo and uploading it to Instagram, she puts her phone away and her eyes are repositioned to Carol, Peter, and Clara playing in the water, exactly where Tony’s eyes were. 

 

“You’re staring at who? Pepper? Clara?”

 

Tony blinks. “Hm?”

 

“You were staring.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“You big softie, you love her so much,” Shuri smirks. 

 

“Of course I do, Shuri, she’s my baby girl, my precious daughter, my little starlight! ...Did you just record that?”

 

Shuri giggles. “Y-yeah!”

 

“ _ Why _ ?”

 

“Just to have it recorded because it’s so sweet how much you love her!”

 

“There is no literal doubt in this whole universe that I love her and Pepper more than anything-and yes, Peter and you. You’re not from me, but you’re mine anyways.”

 

“Aww, gee, thanks,  _ Dad _ !” Shuri says in a mockingly American kid voice. But then she lies her head on his shoulder. “I do love you, though, baba.”

 

“I love you too, malaika.”  _ “I love you too, angel.” _

 

That night ended peacefully, the group going back to their individual rooms in the bungalow, satisfied by the first day spent at the Soneva Jani resort where they would be for a full, luxurious two weeks. 

  
  


Morning came peacefully, still clear skies just as yesterday and was  expected the whole time they were there, possibly only a couple days or cloudiness or rain. 

 

Tony’s consciousness rose up slowly, his sight coming back from his sleep. His gorgeous wife was still asleep beside him, sunlight over her her head, illuminating the slight frizzing of her strawberry blonde-nearly red-gold locks. At the same time he thought about getting up, maybe making them a little breakfast, Pepper’s crystal eyes fluttered open with all of their beauty shining out. “Morning.”

 

“Morning, honey.”

 

“You think anyone’s awake? What time even is it?”

 

Tony turns over to look at the time. “It’s only six thirty. No one’s awake.”

 

Pepper raised her brows. 

 

“Okay, maybe our little bundle of joy, but that’s it.”

 

“She’s not quite bundle size anymore, honey,” Pepper reminds him. The willowy CEO leaned up from her sleeping position to stretch her porcelain freckled arms up in the air, the duvet rolling down and off the top half of her body, showing off her teal silk night set. 

 

“She’s always my bundle of joy no matter how big she gets.”

 

“Well, she’s going to be an older kid, then a teenager who starts dating, then an adult who gets married and has a baby-”

 

“ _ Nooooo _ I don’t want that!” Tony practically whines. That piece of fatherhood would most likely suck the most. 

 

The two parents heard a faint noise...A little playful scream? Perhaps their daughter?

 

“But I  _ do _ wanna know what that noise is…” Tony says. He groans before getting out of bed, practically rolling out.

 

The two parents enter the living room, then turning their sights to the outdoor deck where the two teenagers were playing Concentration with Clara on over-water-sitting-net  as the sun was progressively rising over the ocean of the Maldives. 

 

“Oh, god, do I not want that,” Tony whispers.

 

Since Peter and Shuri got first dibs on what activities they’d do, the teenagers decided that they wanted to try to learn to surf, so they reserved lessons the resort offered. Tony, Rhodey, Happy, and Carol were going to take them while Pepper and May went for spa treatments. They would meet up again and probably go paddle-boarding, maybe kayaking or biking across the boardwalk. They’d arranged a private beach picnic for later and they were going to dine at one of the restaurants, one of multiple dining options at the over-water resort.

 

“No spa, huh?” Happy asks Carol who walked in wearing a linen royal blue button-up tied at the bottom with white denim five-inch shorts, dark sunglasses on her head. 

 

The blonde heroine shook her head. “I might get a facial later to see if it does anything for my face, but spas aren’t really much of my thing. One percent chance of getting a short massage.”

 

“Ten bucks bet you that when I ask Pepper and May how the spa was that you’ll change your mind.”

 

“Then have the ten bucks in your pocket,” Carol smirks. 

 

“You ready to watch us learn to surf, sweetles?” Peter asks an enthusiastic and cheery Clara, earning a nod from her. 

 

The group split up, Pepper and May heading to the spa while the rest of them went to the scheduled lesson on the beach. 

 

“Daddy, how old would I need to be to learn to surf since I can’t now?” Clara asks, holding his hand and swinging his arm, doing the same with Carols who was holding Rhodes hand on her other side. 

 

“Mmmm I think just a couple more years, honey. I heard there weren’t many gentles waves, anyways, so I didn’t want you to be unsafe.”

 

Clara is confused. “The water isn’t that wavy, though.” 

 

“Well, they’re taking us on a speed boat to somewhere they  _ do  _ have consistent beginner-level waves, though,” Rhodey explains.

 

Clara thinks for a moment. “What does consistent mean again?” 

 

“It means it keeps going regularly,” Carol responds. 

 

“So like breathing? Eating? Sleeping?”

 

“Yeah, you got it!” She smiles. Carol adored watching her curiosity just like Tony, Pepper, and pretty much everyone else did. It was natural that they all just fell in love with the little Stark daughter, and Carol was one of the seduced ones. 

 

They got on the boat and were introduced to their instructor before the speedboat set off, taking them to an area triple the emptiness that the area they were in was. There were a couple of sand bars and that was it, one of them was where they would eventually stop and step onto the white Maldivian sand, the sun blazing yet gracing. 

 

“So because you two are beginners, I selected longboards with foot leashes so as you’re learning, you do not lose the board. I highly doubt anything like that will happen, considering that the waves are not Hawaii-level intense, but anything could happen,” Zeena, their native Maldivian instructor explains, her local accent apparent. 

 

The two teens nod in response, unbothered by having completely beginner equipment. Besides, they were here to learn, right?

 

“Alright,” Zeena begins with a grin. “The first step is that you lay down on your boards, belly down and back facing the sky. Before you even get into the water, I suggest you practice paddling with your hands while you’re still on land.”

 

Peter and Shuri do so, Peter’s bare back faces the air and so does Shuri’s, but with the backing of her mint halter bikini on it. 

 

After a moment, Zeena continues, instructing them to practice getting up properly on their surfboards step-by-step. As they did as told, Clara was observing everything around her from the white fluffy cloud that was very far away to the miniscule variations of color in the sand. 

 

“Wait, I forgot, you should be wearing sunglasses!” Tony starts to fumble for his daughter’s bright pink sunglasses he had with him somewhere...right?

 

“You literally have everything for her, don’t you, Tones?” Rhodey watches his best friend find the toddler’s sunglasses. 

 

“The sun can really hurt your eyes, you know-and yes, almost all of her clothes for this trip have UPF, she has swim shoes, six swimsuits-”

 

“Then why aren’t you wearing sunglasses?” Carol raises her brows. 

 

“Priorities of a parent, Carol,” Tony smiles. 

 

“Wouldn’t know it as a member of the ‘Didn’t Have A Good Dad and Isn’t A Parent Themselves Club’.”

 

“I dropped out of that one, now I’m in the one for parents who didn’t have good dads.”

 

Clara frowns. “Your daddy was bad?”

 

Tony’s heart sunk. Yeah, no, he hadn’t really mentioned her biological paternal grandfather to her. He wasn’t exactly grandpa. 

 

He swallows. “Yeah, baby girl, he wasn’t a good daddy,” Tony whispers. “But that’s why I try the very very best I can be for you because I love you and your mommy more than anything, you know that?”

 

“You tell me all day every day!” 

 

“Yes, I do, so you know it,” Tony explains, picking her up into his arms, eliciting a loud giggle from her while Peter and Shuri were now practicing in the water. 

 

“Yeah, Peter and Shuri!” Carol calls out in a supportive manner. 

 

The two teens are starting off well, Peter falling of the board a couple of times, Shuri laughing at him before she ended up falling off even more than he did. They were picking up on it quickly and they were having a lot of fun while they were at it. 

 

“That looks so fun,” Clara whispers. 

 

“You’ll do it when you’re a little older, Clara,” Happy assures. 

 

“Ugh, but that takes a while!” The redhead complains. 

 

Tony laughs. “Haven’t you heard of time flies when you’re having fun?”

 

“Oh, I do have a fun life, though!”

 

“Gee, I hope so.”

 

Zeena sees a flood of white coming up. “Okay, so I see a wave coming up! You two must start paddling at a pace on your belly, then get up and ride the wave over-KNEES  _ BENT _ !!” She directs, emphasis on her last order. 

 

“Okay!” They chorus, doing exactly as said with the ocean breeze upon them. Shuri catches it first, riding the soft wave over with a whoop, Peter taking his time only a bit, getting his seconds after. 

 

In all glee and exhilaration, a refreshed, spa-treated Pepper and May meet the group at the main center of the resort where many facilities were housed. Their faces glowed, cleaned and moisturized, and their bodies were softened by scrubs and creams, muscles relieved by massaging. 

 

“Mommy!” Clara runs to hug her mom. 

 

Pepper immediately embraces her daughter sweetly, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Hi, sweetie! Did you have fun watching Peter and Shuri learn to surf?”

 

“Yeah!” She wildly nods. 

 

Tony goes to give his wife a kiss and he ruffles his daughter’s hair. “You have any idea of what you wanna do after lunch-there’s less time than we thought between now and when we need to be at the boat.”

 

“...I have no idea,” She blankly answers. 

 

“Well, there’s kayaking, paddle-boarding, catamaran, I’d say snorkelling but I think you need to get a lesson in advanced for that,” Rhodey says. 

 

“Can I go snorkelling tomorrow, Mommy?”

 

“‘Course you can, sweetie!” Pepper smiles. 

 

Once again, they were on a boat, but to a private and miniscule island for a picnic lunch under the sun with just a couple of beach umbrellas and beach blankets to prevent sand on themselves. 

 

Peter was whispering in Shuri’s ears, eliciting snickers that catch May’s attention. She never knew what they were up to half the time-but they were so hilarious in almost everything they did. They were incredibly good friends-slash-siblings who spent all of their time together like a dynamic, unbreakable duo.

 

The teens turned to Clara. “Hey, Clara, can you stand right here?” Shuri motions to a certain spot in the sand. Peter starts writing with his fingers in the sand, attracting Tony’s confused eyes. 

 

“Okay!” She practically bounces to the spot as directed. Shuri, meanwhile, finds her little sister’s floaties and slides them on her arms before backing up into the water with her phone up. When Peter finishes writing in the sand, he back-peddals into the water beside Shuri and looks like he’s about to break out of his skin. 

 

“Okay, when we say ‘happy birthday, Raven, you say ‘I can’t swim,” Shuri directs her. 

 

Clara’s chocolate brows furrow. “My name’s not Raven?”

 

“Okay, you can say ‘happy birthday, Clara’!” 

 

Clara knows that it’s definitely not her birthday, but she doesn’t even care enough to correct her big sister. 

 

Pepper looks at the three kids with a bluntly perplexed expression. “What in the world are they doing?”

 

Shuri starts the phone video and Peter motions a “one, two, three,” countdown with his fingers. 

 

“Happy birthday, Clara!”

 

Her voice and timing and every scintilla of her expression was absolute perfection:

 

“I can’t swim.”

 

“Oh my god, it’s a  _ vine _ ,” Pepper whispers, eyes wide in a horror.

 

Tony, himself, can’t resist laughter. 

 

They started eating their lunch together, some of them hungrier than others. Clara finished her sandwich before anyone else finished their meal, getting up and plopping her body on the sand right where the water was flowing onto the sand and back into the sea with perfect consistency. Her porcelain legs were crossed, the rims of white water foam tickling her toes with lavender-painted nails (courtesy to Shuri). 

 

“Whatcha doing, sweetles?” Peter comes and sits down beside her. 

 

“Looking at the water...It’s really blue.”

 

“Well, I think it’s also pretty green.”

 

“It is, but...what’s that word for more of it than the other?”

 

Peter doesn’t understand. “More of it than the other?”

 

“Like how there’s more girls in the world than boys? The something of people…”

 

“Majority?” Peter tries. 

 

“Yeah! The...majority of the water is blue.”

 

Peter laughs. “Well, you’re right about that, sweetles.”

 

May, Happy, and Tony start a conversation as they finish off their food, Rhodey and Carol walking over to the water’s edge hand-in-hand, a breeze touching Carol’s thin coral swimsuit cover up. Rhodey turns and twirls his girlfriend’s body around, earning a sweet giggle and a kiss. 

 

“Can I tell you a secret, Pete?” Clara whispers in a typical kid whisper. 

 

Peter closens to his younger sister’s face to hear in a “secretive” manner. “What, Clara?”

 

“I think they’re a really cute couple.”

 

“You’re not the only one.”

 

Within just ten minutes, Shuri and Peter assist their younger sister in building a superior sand castle, Rhodey and Carol wading around in the water happily. Happy and May were simply lying on sun loungers to their heart’s content with a strong sunglasses game attempting to tan. Tony and Pepper lied down on loungers, but under beige sun umbrellas with their hands intertwined, observing the peaceful sight of pure happiness. 

 

“It’s really beautiful, here, Tony.”

 

“Yeah. It is...You know they sell residence villas, right? We could always stick around here for our retirement, you know? I mean, like, we have a lotta options.”

 

Pepper’s eyes fall on her sweet daughter and pretty-much-teenage kids. Shuri and Peter had started tossing Clara back and forth, but they were being careful and Clara was having so much fun. Pepper was at deep ease and relaxation with a full belly and by her husband’s side. 

 

“I thought you wanted a farm, Pep?”

 

Pepper shrugs. “That’s if we want to stay close to business or New York...I don’t know if we want that.”

 

“Well, Clara has to go to school, unless she did it online, or something.”

 

“No, she needs to be with kids her own age.”

 

“What if we had another baby?”

 

Pepper pondered that thought for a moment. Another baby girl, or perhaps a boy. Couldn’t possibly be another redhead (Clara was a genetic miracle), but maybe a strawberry blonde with Tony’s lovely brown orbs. Maybe he or she was meant to have the crystal blue color with his dark hair. More like herself or her husband? They would not know what another child would be like unless they had it. 

 

The image of their family would become so different. Their baby Clara was the absolute jewel of their eyes, the light of their lives, their sun and moon and stars. She was their sweet universe that made the real one so much better. Yes, they both loved kids, but Pepper grew up with three other siblings, and Tony grew up as an only child. Pepper never liked having siblings because they took away attention, care, and were overall hassels to her home life. Tony’s childhood was definitely not the best, but he knew that having siblings would have increased the pain considering Howard’s parenting and the overall scheme of things. 

 

“I think Clara likes being an only child,” Pepper admits. 

 

“Of course she does, she gets all of our attention...You’re right, though, you’re right, we don’t have to have another kid-”

 

“That’s not exactly what I meant...I just remember that having sibling wasn’t fun, and I don’t want that for her. I don’t want to ever be so wrapped up with one kid that I forget the other because my mom did that a lot to me. Of course, I love her, but it would’ve been nice to have that extra attention…”

 

“Oh…” Tony’s expression falters. “I’m sorry, honey, I-”

 

“Nonono, you’re good! ...I don’t know, I think it’s a discussion for right now, if that’s okay, I think maybe we should just relax?” Pepper meekly suggests. 

 

Tony kisses her soft porcelain hand. “Okay.”

 

“I wonder if there’s sea turtles around here, Shuri!” Clara says, drawing both parent’s attention from themselves to the beach’s edge.

 

Tony gently grins. “Another one of her would be so adorable, though.”

 

Time passed sweetly, going to the chocolate shop and paddle boarding for a little bit before they go back to the villa for a few hours, then it’s suddenly an outdoor astronomy dinner right underneath the Maldivian starry sky. The sky was fading colors quickly, the lavender-buttercream ombre gone from sight and suddenly a pure dark blue dotted with stars and more sights growing. 

 

“Can I look through the telescope next, Shuri?” Clara asks politely, eager to see what could be seen. 

 

“Yeah!” Shuri backs away and lets Clara closen her face, the Wakandan teen getting a glimpse of the jaw-drop her little sister had. 

 

“This ice cream is so good,” Peter murmurs. 

 

“You not interested in the stars, Peter? I thought you were a dork?” Carol teases, looking the boy up and down as he finished a bite of the scoops of four different flavors: strawberry, fudge chocolate, cookie dough, and salted caramel. That wasn’t all, however, it had endless toppings: brownie bits, colored sprinkles, hot fudge sauce, and chocolate chips. 

 

His puppy-dog eyes grew. “But...it’s _ really really _ good.”

 

Carol rolls her eyes. “But then again, I guess I’ve bored you with all my stories about this galaxy and that planet and such that seeing Mars just doesn’t impress-”

 

“I wanna see Mars!” Peter jumps up, abandoning his cup of ice cream. 

 

Carol just snorts. She didn’t know if they could see Mars, but probably not. 

 

When Clara backed away from the telescope, she was growing more and more tired by the minute. She clumsily walked over to the seat where her parents sat, pretty much collapsing with a yawn into her daddy’s arms. 

 

“You tired, baby girl?” 

 

Clara just hums in response. 

 

“Maybe we should take her to bed?” Pepper suggests. “Everyone’s still here, but…”

 

May looks at her close friend and nods. “We’ll be fine. Little girls need to sleep well.”

 

Tony walks back with his wife beside him, his baby girl in his arms falling asleep by the second. The stars glowed above, a sense of ease and beauty entering the two parents. Nothing was entering Clara except tired, more tired, sleepy, and more sleepy. 

 

Once inside, Tony makes sure the light won’t hit his daughter’s eyes as they walk towards her sleeping area. He gently lets her down on her daybed, Pepper laying a few blankets over her and quickly gets a bottle of water to put on the table by her daybed. Clara’s little body snuggles down and is now contently asleep. She is left with a kiss to the forehead from her daddy before darkness is the reality of her room. 

 

“She had such a great day, didn’t she?” Pepper quietly asks her husband once they reach the living room. 

 

“Yeah, she really did. Our little joy had a great day, honey.”

 

“Shuri, Peter, and co did too...Did you?” Pepper plops down on the sofa. 

 

“Of course I did, it was great. You were all happy and that is what really really matters.” Tony sits down beside his wife, giving her a long and sweet kiss that was about to start down her neck when Pepper gently pulled away. 

 

“We don’t have protection, honey...I don’t think I want to have that possibility, at the moment.”

 

“It’s okay, honey, I understand.” Tony wraps an arm around his wife. “What do you, uh...want to do?”

 

“Do you want to go outside, maybe? The stars are really beautiful.”

 

“Yeah,” He nods, the two getting up and strolling onto the deck. The water was peaceful as was the air and the sky, lying down on the over-water nets with pillows. Their eyes are towards the stars, Pepper’s head nuzzled against her husband’s neck. Their bodies radiated warmth and comfort against each other, bliss of calm in their eyes.

 

“I didn’t realize I was so tired,” Tony murmurs after twenty minutes. 

 

“Do you want to go to bed?”

 

“Do you?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

So that is what they do. 

  
  


For some highly odd reason, Clara is naturally an early bird, starkly contrasting her dad. She got it from her mom, explaining why she was awake at four forty two in the morning as the sun was inching up, but it was nowhere near the horizon at the same time. Buttercream was at the horizon, then a pale blue, then a dark blue. A breeze flew past her, for she was on the deck sitting criss-cross applesauce...or, you know, indian style, but some things have other names. 

 

“Whatcha doing, sweet pea?”

 

Clara turns her head back, wind touching her red locks. “Doesn’t the sun rise soon, Aunt Carol?”

 

“Yeah,” Carol replies, sitting down by her on the hammock. “Ugh, my head hurts-that’s the only reason I’m up so early. You lucked out, kiddo!” She says, fingering a finger through one of Clara’s auburn waves. Carol thought for a moment before a smile lit up her face beautifully. “Hey, I have an idea.”

 

“What is it?”

 

Carol walks with little Clara with their hands intertwined, arms swinging back and forth in glee. The sky was changing colors as the sun was making its journey closer and closer to the horizon, but not quite yet. They offered sunrise astronomy breakfast at five, the current time, since that there was supposedly some things to be seen at this hour versus at night. 

 

The two ordered their food and the sun was not stopping its trek, Clara pretty much babbling and Carol mostly just listening until their food arrived and the toddler immediately started eating her waffles, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Carol simply ate sausage and french toast with her orange juice. 

 

Clara blinks in confusion. “Mommy and Daddy don’t know I’m here…”

 

“It’s okay, sweet pea, I told Rhodey, but he was barely awake, so I left a note for your parents. It’s alright,” Carol assures. “It’s my treat.”

 

“Okay.” Clara eats another piece of bacon, enjoying the filling of her stomach. She looks up to the sky and sees something. “Why are there a few stars in the sky?”

 

“Because they...can. Maybe?”

 

Clara gets out of her seat and goes to the mass telescope, looking in it for anything. What she finds is incredible to her. “Woah…”

 

Carol slides away and up onto her feet. “What do you see, honey?”

 

“Is that Venus, Aunt Carol?”

 

“Lemme look.”

 

Clara backs away from the telescope to let her aunt observe. “Is it Venus?”

 

Carol smiles at the sight. “You’re right, sweet pea, it is Venus.”

 

“Venus Williams or the planet?”

 

The duo turns around, Clara running over to greet her parents and uncle. 

 

“Hey, honey,” Rhodey greets Carol vocally, but also with a quick peck on the cheek. 

 

A thought pops in a snap to Clara’s head, then a gasp. “I get to go snorkelling today,” She whispers in intense excitement. 

 

It was only right after they finished snorkelling that it clouded up and started to rain, though. 

 

Clara sat with Peter and Shuri, the two teens almost grumpily on their phones considering how much they wanted to go surfing and windsurfing eagerly. That was, until, Shuri finally sent him a meme that made Peter snicker. 

 

“What are you laughing about, Pete?” Tony asks, on the opposite side of the massive cream sofa with his wife, May, and Carol. 

 

“Yeah, what are you laughing at, Peter?” May is curious, furrowing her eyebrows at her nephew. 

 

“Just a meme,” Shuri responds for him in a murmur. She sends him another meme, eliciting a much louder laugh this time. 

 

The redhead ponders as the darkness outside has her eyes captivated. The amount it rained was incredibly odd, considering how little it was supposed to rain. It definitely was not supposed to rain heavily, either, so she was both at a loss for thought yet trying to create a thought of what to do since she was so bored. 

 

Her favorite movie. 

 

Little Clara lights up even brighter than a light bulb, jumping off the couch and literally bounces. “Iknowwhatwecandoiknowwhatwecando!”

 

“What, sweetie?” May asks. 

 

“We! Can! Watch! Lilo! And! Stitch!” Clara continues to bounce.

 

“Also known as your favorite movie?” Pepper adds. 

 

“Yes!”

 

“Okay, well let’s put it on upstairs. It’s a shame there’s no tv in here.” Tony says, standing up as his daughter makes a speedy sprint upstairs with no care in the world. 

 

“Not even I have her energy,” Peter shakes his head. 

 

“You’re a teenage spider boy!” Shuri exclaims in reminding him. 

 

“I’m not five, Shuri.”

 

“ _ Four! _ You forgot your little sister’s age! How dare you!” She teases. 

 

Happy makes a move as he sees the toddler come upstairs. “Hi, sweetie, whatcha doing?”

 

“We’re gonna watch Lilo and Stitch!” Clara exclaims as she runs and crashes on the sofa. 

 

Pepper and Tony sat on one side close together while Rhodey and Carol sat on the other with May in the middle, but with an intentional gap.  “Do you wanna join us, gentlemen, or are you going to keep betting your dollars against each other?” May asks, relaxing down against the comfortable fabric. 

 

“Oh, of course, honey,” Happy quickly abandons the pool table as well as Rhodey to go sit with their girlfriends.

 

Shuri presses through Netflix and finds the movie before she puts down the remote.

 

“Wait, we need popcorn!” Tony reminds. 

 

Shuri has never looked so agitated in her life before she stands up to get popcorn, Peter running with her. They come back with not just popcorn, but multiple cokes, Dr. Peppers, and candy, as well. Clara practically lunges for the peanut butter M&M’s as drinks are handed out to them, Carol immediately starting to munch on her serving of popcorn and Pepper chomps on Twizzlers when the Disney logo shows up on the screen. Clara is cuddled against her daddy, Shuri and Peter lying against each other on one edge of the sofa, childhood memories rekindled from the movie.

 

They’re finished an hour-and-a-half later, and the sky had started to lighten and lose its darkness before Shuri was extremely fast to go down the water slide into the Maldivian water, as well as Peter. Clara wades in the blue-green with her parents peacefully, May and Happy were in the sauna room, and  Carol and Rhodey lying close together on the catamaran nets. 

 

“Hey, where’s the chocolate we got earlier?” Peter comes up from under the water, his dirty light brown hair soaked with ocean water. 

 

At the words he spoke, Shuri swam quickly to the deck, gets up on the wood, and runs to the mini bar where they were keeping chocolate from the chocolatier earlier. She sprints back out, cannonballing off the deck as she bites off a bite of chocolate. 

 

Water splashes all over Clara and Peter. “ _ SHURI _ !” They screech in unison.

 

Shuri hands out chocolate. “Compensation for your troubles.”

 

“Compensation for your troubles,” Tony mocks under his breath. 

 

Shuri splashes him with tons of water.  

 

“Dammit, my hair!”

 

“Oooooooo you swore in front of a minor!”

 

“Swear in front of a minor-Clara, what about the minors who swear daily?!”

 

“Me? Swear daily?” Shuri acts offended. 

 

“You? Accuse us of swearing?” Peter fakes shock. 

 

“Hotel? Trivago,” Clara adds nonchalantly. 

 

The two teens cackle. 

 

Tony just realized that this trip was going to get longer, but he loved every single second of it. 


End file.
